Dive into me
by Kyou
Summary: At the age of ten, Reino captures his first soul.


**Dive (into me)**

He has a fascination with darkness. Physical darkness and mental darkness, nighttime and dark colors. He can see the darkness in others, and he knows of the darkness in himself. He studies the darkness, he uses the darkness, he is the master of the dark. He is powerful in the night.

(the light shows what the dark can hide)

At the age of ten, Reino is playing in the garden outside his house. The sun shines down upon him, and he basks in its rays. He is circling the pond to go inside for some shade, when he sees her. She is hanging limply from one of the carefully cultivated trees in the garden, just off the path. The sun illuminates her grotesque form, leaving nothing to the imagination.

At the age of ten, Reino sees his first soul fly from a lifeless body. He reaches out curiously, a young boy confronting something new. He is surprised to find that he can touch the spirit; he had expected it would go right through him.

At the age of ten, Reino captures his first spirit.

(the dark gives power to those who can use it)

He has a fascination with strong emotion. Hatred and sadness and despair and longing can manifest spirits even in the living. Living souls are much more rare and much harder to capture. He has never felt a strong emotion in his life, and he is fascinated by the causes and circumstances that create such strong feeling in others. When he first saw the girl called Kyoko, he was awed at the strength of her emotion, and determined to discover how she had unlocked such strong spirits within herself.

(shadows hide in unlikely places)

Reino starts his band on a whim. He sees the musician Fuwa Sho late one night at a convenience store. He wouldn't have taken any notice, but he senses a buildup of frustration and loss inside the aspiring star, and immediately wishes to coax it out into a visible spirit manifestation. He gathers aspiring musicians, and sets them to simply rearranging Fuwa's songs, as he has no interest in the work involved in creating his own.

Reino starts his band on a whim, and while he doesn't care for the music, he is immensely glad that he has. Each time he takes the stage, there are new spirits to discover in the audience. Young girls have intense emotion, and while they rarely provide something new, to a collector it is still a thrill to hunt through the ordinary to find the precious rare ones.

(in the darkness and light of her)

He has a fascination with her. The pure energy and power that infuse her spirits are breathtaking. That she has more than one – that she can bring them out and take them in at will – everything about her calls to him. He has never seen anything like it. Not since his first spirit has he felt this alive. His hunt is obsessive; she is the rarest of all and he is determined to have at least a piece. Just one would satisfy.

He has a fascination with her, and he will not let it go.

(rare and beautiful darkness)

Reino doesn't know what happens to the people he takes souls from. He is not overly concerned with the living; his fascination lies in the realm of the dead and the spirit. Reino has often wondered if he has a soul at all. He has never had a strong emotion. He has tried turning his powers inward, to see if he can capture his own soul, but he has never found anything. He will keep trying. His own soul would be the ultimate in his collection.

Reino doesn't know what happens to the people he takes souls from, but he is not unduly concerned. He will take his own without a second thought.

(absorb the night into all your body)

He is not satisfied with just one. By itself, the piece of the girl Kyoko's soul is disappointingly powerless. He gives it back, all the while wondering the best means to get them all at once.

In the meantime, there are plenty of others to hunt. Kyoko is the center of a maelstrom of emotion barely restrained. Between Fuwa and Tsuruga and of course Kyoko herself, Reino is almost overwhelmed. The challenge excites him, raising him from his usual lethargy.

(it was there all along)

Reino has a fascination with darkness. He loves to study it, to analyze its shades, to capture new and rare instances of it. He cannot see his own darkness, and it never occurs to him that the reason for this is the same as why a person standing in Tokyo cannot see Japan.

In the meantime, he will continue his hunt.


End file.
